


Fructidor

by FleuretteFfoulkes



Category: The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
Genre: Death of Chauvelin, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27444862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleuretteFfoulkes/pseuds/FleuretteFfoulkes
Summary: The Paris newspaper is two weeks old by the time it reaches Blakeney Manor. Marguerite hopes it's the last time she'll ever read Chauvelin's name.
Relationships: Marguerite Blakeney/Percy Blakeney
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fifteen





	Fructidor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the square "Happy Ending" on my Trope Bingo card.

The Paris newspaper is two weeks old by the time it reaches Blakeney Manor.

The lists of executions are shorter these days, now that Tallien and his moderates have taken over; and the names more gratifying to read—to some extent, though there are still miscarriages of justice, and all is still not perfect in the land of Marguerite's birth. But in this particular list, there is a name that Marguerite is pleased indeed to read. She runs her fingers over the words "Armand Chauvelin, 17 Thermidor". And so, he had lasted little more than a week after they'd left him tied up in her own erstwhile prison-room in the house in the Rue de la Planchette.

She and Chauvelin had been friends once, it seems—oh!—so long ago. In the days before she had even met Percy, much less loved Percy and then despised him and then loved him all the more fervently. Even the days when Chauvelin had come to England and blackmailed her to betray an innocent (those days when she'd nearly murdered her husband and might never have known what she'd done) seem terribly distant. That was the last time she and Chauvelin had ever worked for a common purpose. He has come into her life more than once since then, but always as an enemy.

And now he is dead and gone, and she need never again fear to cross paths with him again. Marguerite runs a dainty fingertip over the words one last time, then folds the newspaper neatly and takes it to Sir Percy's study, where she leaves it on the desk for him to find when he returns from town.

He may well have already heard the news—he's always been terribly well-informed about events in France, with a network of informants and couriers that only a man with both his fortune and his skill with people could possess. Perhaps he hasn't mentioned it because he thought Marguerite would prefer not to hear Chauvelin's name spoken aloud ever again.

And perhaps she wouldn't. She's really not certain how she feels about that. But what she is certain of, is that she is overjoyed to know for certain that Chauvelin is dead. There's always been this shadow of fear in the back of her mind, knowing that he was out there and wishing harm to her and her beloved. But they're safe now. They can move forward in their lives without trepidation.

Which brings Marguerite to the other thing she needs to tell Percy when he returns this evening. She rests her hands over her belly and smiles. Their lives are going to be very different soon in many more ways than just one. 

She's looking forward to it.


End file.
